Tube Stooges

Glen Greenwald has written a series of posts highlighting recent statements from former press secretary Scott McClellan and others about the failure of most U.S. journalists to ask any real questions in the weeks and months that preceded the invasion of Iraq.

I’ve written before about how ridiculous it is when those who have defended the war claim that there was no information available to lead them to suspect that the administration’s claims were false. That is such a crock of crap. As Greenwald puts it:

…this claim is just categorically, demonstrably false. As Eric Boehlert and Atrios both demonstrated yesterday, Ted Kennedy in September, 2002 “delivered a passionate, provocative, and newsworthy speech raising all sorts of doubts about a possible invasion.” Moreover, Al Gore (the prior presidential nominee of the Democratic Party) and Howard Dean (the 2003 Democratic presidential frontrunner) were both emphatically speaking out against the war. Thus, three of the most influential voices in the Democratic Party — arguably the three most influential at the time — were vehemently opposing the war. People were protesting in the streets by the hundreds of thousands inside the U.S. and around the world. In the world as perceived by the insulated, out-of-touch and establishment-worshiping likes of David Ignatius, Brian Williams, David Gregory, and Charlie Gibson, there may not have been a debate over whether we should attack Iraq. But there nonetheless was a debate. They ignored it and silenced it…

The worst part of the whole thing is that even after the press has clearly been shown that they failed to inform the public, there has been very little soul-searching and no change in the way news is gathered and reported. When the hosts of the Today Show discussed the lack of objectivity in their support for Bush and Cheney for the several years before and during this war, this was what Charlie Gibson had to say:

…it is not our job to debate them; it’s our job to ask the questions….

Or, as Greenwald puts it:

Perish the thought that journalists should be adversarial to our political officials, challenge what they say or point out when they’re lying. Instead, their job is merely to pose polite questions, let political officials say what they want in response, and then go home.

~ by lolarusa on May 29, 2008.